Too many penalties ruining the NFL

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is brought down by Miami Dolphins linebacker Koa Misi, but the play was negated by a Miami penalty during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton)

The Associated Press

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is brought down by Miami Dolphins linebacker Koa Misi, but the play was negated by a Miami penalty during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is brought down by Miami Dolphins linebacker Koa Misi, but the play was negated by a Miami penalty during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game Friday, Aug. 8, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton) (The Associated Press)

Mike Pereira and I have been acquainted for quite some time. We have agreed. Some. We have disagreed. More. The guy has built his life around a dazzle of football zebras, so what do you expect?

Mike is a terrific guy, but he also is blunt, and Monday, when I asked him his opinion on the NFL’s new “point of emphasis” for defensive illegal contract and holding -- there have been more flags during the preseason than at the United Nations -- he didn’t hold back.

“It’s ugly football.”

Pereira, the former NFL and WAC director of officials, who now serves as rules expert for Fox during televised pro and college games, couldn’t be more accurate. There is no greater authority on football officiating. But I’ll add to what he said.

They’re ruining the game. And it’s ticking me off.

They’re playing flag football. It’s been about offense for a long time, but it’s now out of control. Good defenders are naturally aggressive people. Is it a wonder so many of them can’t tackle anymore when they have to think and back off, when they have to play soft, when they must go against every instinct they have, everything they’ve been taught?

“The players have to adjust,” Chargers coach Mike McCoy was saying Monday. “I tell our practice officials to enforce it all the time. I will say, Dean Blandino (The League’s current chief of officials) is doing a phenomenal job, sending us tapes, so the players get to see a lot of little things.

“It wasn’t that bad in the San Francisco game (Sunday’s 21-7 loss).”

But early on, Chargers linebacker Kavell Conner was flagged for a holding penalty that, at best, as Chick Hearn would say, was ticky-tack, no harm, no foul.

Well, it’s stupid. And they’re not calling it consistently, as was evident in the Chargers’ loss two weeks ago at Seattle, when the Seahawks got away with some obvious infractions and San Diego did not. If it’s cliché to say, call it both ways, too bad.

This August there has been, as Pereira points out, a tremendous spike in penalties. New Orleans was flagged an astounding 22 times in one game.

“All your life you grow up saying I’m only going to call a foul if it creates an advantage. You can’t look at it that way anymore. Any contact, it’s a foul.”

I’m someone who doesn’t really care how long a football game lasts. But the flags are increasing down time at an alarming rate. If you call 30 penalties in a game, how much time does it take up?

“In week three, there were 31 fouls called in the Eagles-Steelers game, 27 of them accepted,” Pereira said. “But we’re talking about the pace of the game. Even if a penalty is declined, it takes the same amount of time as one that’s accepted.

“Go back to 2004, when they make illegal contact a point of emphasis. There was a big spike in illegal contact. There will be a big spike this year in illegal contact and hands to the face.”

As it is, zebras have no idea how to call pass interference. “It’s the toughest call to make, Pereira said. They’re like baseball umps with different strike zones.

But if you’re thinking this is just an exhibition season disease, think some more. The NFL lords are ga-ga over the money-maker, offense, with Peyton Manning throwing for 10,000 yards and eliminating the art of defending. It’s only going to get worse.

“People think this is going to stop when the regular season starts, but that’s just not going to be the case,” Pereira said. “The officials may take the heat, but the heat should go to the Competition Committee. Why do they keep doing this? There already was a league record for most point scored.